Study: Minorities more likely to be disenfranchised by Voter ID laws

Eligible voters in 10 states including Texas do not have easy access to free IDs required by new restrictive voting laws and minorities would more likely to be disenfranchised in the process, according to a new study released Wednesday.

Republicans who support new voter ID laws dismissed as partisan the study by the Brennan Center for Justice, which has joined legal efforts to block the new regulations, as politically motivated.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and other state Republican officials insist that new laws like the voter ID law requiring a photograph does not disenfranchise voters.

But the study found that eligible voters who would need the free identification cards required by the new laws were less likely to have access to a vehicle and live further away from offices where the IDs are issued.

“Unfortunately, these free IDs are not equally accessible to all voters,” the report said.

The Texas law would require voters to present an ID with a photograph from the Department of Public Safety – including free ID cards – the military, the federal government or a concealed weapons permit issued by the state.

A panel of three federal judges in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia heard testimony during a week-long trial earlier this month on the legality of the Texas law under the Voting Rights Act.

A decision by that panel is expected as early as this month.

The Brennan Justice Center sided with the Justice Department arguing in federal court that the Texas voter ID law should not be implemented.

South Carolina passed a similar law. It will go to federal trial here and heard by another federal court panel next month.

Eight states passed voter ID laws last year, following Georgia and Indiana for states establishing more restrictive regulations for casting votes.

Lawyers for Texas argued that the new rules were needed to protect the integrity of the ballot box, and presented evidence that felons, non-citizens and thousands of deceased were still carried on voter registration rolls.

But testimony by the Justice Department and minority rights groups showed that while there has been fraud with mail-in ballots, there are no recent convictions for voter impersonation at polling places.

“It’s a solution in search of a problem,” said state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, head of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus.

According to the report, 11 percent of eligible voters lack the required photo ID in 10 states requiring the new cards. Those are also the people most likely to have trouble obtaining free identification cards.

The report also found:

Nearly 500,000 eligible votes without cards do not have access to a vehicle, and many live in rural areas without public transportation access.

1.2 million black voters and 500,000 eligible Hispanic live more than 10 miles from state offices issuing free IDs.

People of color are more likely to be disenfranchised by these laws since they are less likely to have a photo ID than the general population.

More than 1 million eligible voters in the states in the study fall below the federal poverty line in earnings and would be affected by the costs associated with purchasing documents needed to obtain a voter ID card – like a birth certificate which costs between $8 and $25.

“The result is plain: Voter ID laws will make it harder for hundreds of thousands of poor Americans to vote,” the report concluded.

Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco, R-San Antonio, said people in his congressional district, which stretches to El Paso, routinely drive large distances for groceries and mail – and would do so to vote.

He said the real issue is faith in the electoral process.
“The voters need to have faith in the integrity of our electoral process,” Canseco said. “It’s what drives our democracy.”